Camberwell Market

The first time when I went to Camberwell Market after staying here for nearly a decade was just last year. Funny how I didn't like it the first time when I got there coz I never really got any items for my wardrobe second handed. I must say that my style has evolved a little since beginning of 2009, and I'm starting to collect pre-loved, vintage items. 

Two visits this year to the market and I'm embracing it already. My third and latest visit was just 2 days ago on Sunday. Went there alone, wasn't really looking for anything in particular but ended up picking up 4 items and spent nearly $50. Some items were really a bargain! Like the Gucci leather shoes below. It is in my favourite colour, wasn't dirty or gross on the inside, all leather, the price was right AND it was in my size. Perfect. It was initially $30 and I got another $5 off! I didn't need it...but just couldn't help myself. The shoe was ticking quite a few good boxes of my list of things that would make my wardobe. Succumbing into such retail-temptation wasn't that unexpected on that day.

These Novo shoes still had price tag on it. $59.95, its original price tag stated. Seeing evidence that it was indeed a brand new pair, I asked the lady for the price. Ten dollars. 

"Can you make that $5?", I blurted, not knowing exactly what I was doing. Bargaining? Sounded strange coming from my mouth as I seldom had the opportunity to do so. 

"Nah this is a brand new pair and I got it for $60. Eight dollars".

Feeling a tad bad if I insisted on more discount, besides, it was a brand new pair. I happily obliged. And into the red plastic bag containing the Gucci shoes the new Novo went. I love the tiny tassel-ended bows on the shoes.

Now, this electric blue, maybe from the 80s-90s, really was a shocker when I washed it. Prior to washing, it had a really strong 'old' smell but little did I know how much dirt this little fella was carrying. The water that the jacket was soaked it turned GREENISH-BROWN. Immediately I grabbed mum's Dynamo and spilt some along the jacket, now sitting inside of the sink. Gave it a good scrub, rinse, scrub, rinse, and more scrubbing. Finally the water turned clear and now it's sweet smelling and happily toasting and basking in the winter sun :)

The store I got this jacket from had the best vintage clothes collection I'd seen that day at the market. The owner was really sweet as well and gave really generous discounts to the customers. It was $15 initially and I got it for $10. It'll go well I think with black, white or sand/ beige tops/ dress. Throw in some black tights and a nice pair of gladiator-inspired platforms. 

 

These cards were actually my first purchase. $5 for a deck of vintage Chinese poster girls' cards. It'll be quite hard to play with them since you'd have to squint a little to see the numbers so I'm just gonna keep them for inspiration next time for future work. The era of when these posters could have been made would be around the 1920s-30.

 

 

 

One advice though, do not linger too long flipping through books at some unfriendly-looking vendor's stall. Coz I saw a Victoria Beckham book (That extra half an inch or something like that) for $5 and got a little excited, picked it up, flipped thoroughly through it to see if I really needed the book. This process was probably just a mere 3 minutes. Decided that I've spent enough for the day, I put it down and left the stall. Instantly I was hearing verbal abuses hurled by the vendor and I realised that they were targeted at me. Bad way to treat customers. Who ever would wanna do business with you or even dare come near your stall next time? 

Generally the vendors there are nice and friendly and this market is a must-go! It's on every Sunday from 7am-12.30pm, google it for the address coz I wouldn't know :P

Geometric Ornament- Part 2

Holiday times can be a great time in catching up in whatever that you've told yourself to do more when you've got the time. To me, one of them is blogging, as I think that it's important to keep the readers entertained and inspired by putting up new and inspirational posts. Keeping posts regular can be a real good reason in keeping them coming back for more. On the other hand, having too much time can be a curse as well coz you'd end up getting lazy. That's the case for me as for now. EEEEK!!! I hate being a slob and being unproductive. Don't get me wrong, I love holidays. But too much time and not doing anything? Bad, bad, bad. 

Here's something that's overdue, haha. My CATD project titled 'The Secret Garden'. Here's a few snippets of my design.

32x32cm Repeat Design

One placement design (Top Left) and 3 options for colourways

Small section on my initial 16x16cm repeat design. However, having to comply with the requirements in the assignment, I decided to go with the design below for my 16x16. Didn't like it as much but too little time on hand to experiment with other potential designs.

Heading of to Camberwell Market tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'd be able to grab some bargains!

Black, White & Red

Just yesterday I had received a package from my Forever 21 order from the US! Excited excited. 

Wanted to do a simple outdoor shoot but the rain came pouring down. Hence, decided to stay indoors. 

Shoes here are the ring are from the package received!

Wearing my thrifted acrylic sweater from Savers ($7!!), Bettina Liano skinnies, F21 wedge boots and ring & Moucha black faux leather bag.

This pair of shoes is the main reason why I was even thinking of purchasing online from F21, despite the expensive shipping and handling cost. Nevertheless, it's so much more affordable compared to the real deal- Acne 'Atacoma' or the aussie knock off- Tony Bianco's 'Nemesis'. 

Acne 'Atacoma' Lace Up Wedge Ankle Boot approx. AUD $710

Tony Bianco 'Nemesis' AUD $189.95

Forever 21 Wedge Boot

 Mine now for approx. AUD $30.00 only :P Hehe.

Geometric Ornament- Part 1

The semester that just ended had us onto our second project for CATD, using Illustrator for most of our work. Titled 'Geometric Ornament', I'm not exactly sure if I actually stuck to the guidelines and main criteria of the project- to create GEOMETRIC patterns. It was a time where we were all rushing, working towards our crazily short deadlines and I'd say 70-75% of this project was done within a period of approximately 3 days, max 4. Lots of work to be done, too little time coz:


1) Had to hand paint it, as you've probably seen in a previous post here
2) Scan it
3) Tidy bits up on Photoshop. Lots of magic wand, poly lasso tool and eraser using. Press Delete + Delete and Delete.
4) Import to Illustrator
5) Live Trace on Illustrator. Meaning to convert the image into anchor points. Huge, huge file
6) Create alternative to Live Trace, which is to hand render it, which I painstakingly clicked on every blinking anchor points of every blinking motif.


So below, is a wonderfully yet painfully compiled conversion boards I did for the project. 
1st column- Hand painted, scanned & neatened up
2nd column- Live tranced and colour changed
3rd column- Single handedly created every shape by clicking on evert anchor points. Despising yet rewarding...I'd like to think.

Conversion Board 1

Conversion Board 2

Conversion Board 3

Conversion Board 4

So here are the motifs used for the project. 

By the time I got to this stage I had to literally race against time to finish my assignment! Got by with little sleep, hence was totally losing the plot of this project already. More of the final, not every geometric looking outcome in the next post or so coz I've a haircut in an hour haha!

P/S: Motifs here are shared for viewing only. Absolutely no sneakiness (like using this on anyone else's work/ project) allowed. Cool? :)

Somewhat Edible Piece of Dirt

First attempt making chocolate flourless cake. Read recipe wrong and added water in my chocolate, butter and caster sugar mixture. Tried soaking up the water with paper towel. Not sure if that was the reason why my cake was hard, though still edible. Or could it be the cold weather coz it's gooeyer whilst warm? Hmm. 

Still tasted good though, as I used Nestle Gold, 70% dark chocolate bars instead of cooking chocolate as suggested in the recipe book :) Went well with a ball of rich, creamy vanilla ice cream!